FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Planning Board has signed off on a new planned adult community zone the Township Committee is expected to create by ordinance later this month.
In a 6-0 vote on Dec. 2, the Planning Board gave its consent to an ordinance the Township Committee introduced in November.
Upon its adoption, which is expected at the committee’s Dec. 22 meeting, the ordinance will pave the way for an adult community to be constructed and establish requirements and regulations for on-site and/or off-tract affordable housing obligations.
The land in question is known as the Grossman tract and is on the north side of Business Route 33 about a quarter-mile west of Route 9, in the vicinity of an entrance road to the Freehold Raceway Mall.
The zoning will change from CMX-3 (Corporate Multi-Use) to PAC-4 (Planned Adult Community-4) on the 45.75-acre parcel.
For many years, a sign posted at the Grossman tract has indicated the site is approved for office buildings. No buildings have been constructed at the location and now municipal officials will change the use of the land.
“The ordinance will permit the construction of an adult community on Route 33. Presently, this property is zoned commercial, which would have resulted in significantly more traffic and congestion. Of equal importance, the builder will be installing a sewer line for this entire area of Freehold Township which until now did not have access to sewer,” Mayor Thomas Cook said.
In a second vote, the Planning Board gave unanimous consent to an ordinance which will result in the Zoning Board of Adjustment being merged into the Planning Board.
In a Nov. 3 referendum, voters authorized the Township Committee to take action to combine the two boards. The ordinance is expected to be adopted on Dec. 22 and the merger will take effect in 2016.
Municipal officials have said a decrease in the number of applications coming before both boards is the reason for combining the panels. They said certain cost savings are expected to result from the move.
In a third and final vote, the Planning Board gave its consent to an ordinance which designates an R-40 overlay zone on the north side of Dutch Lane Road at the site of the John L. Montgomery Care Center.
An overlay zone is a zoning district which is applied over one or more previously established zoning districts, establishing additional or stricter standards and criteria for covered properties in addition to those of the underlying zoning district, according to the American Planning Association.
The ordinance permits long-term care and nursing home facilities licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health as a permitted development option in the R-40 Residential Zone in designated R-40 Overlay Zones on this 8-acre tract of land.
“This is a cleanup ordinance that made the Montgomery home property a permitted use,” Cook said.
The Montgomery nursing home was recently sold by Monmouth County to an entity that will take over the operation of the facility.
All three proposed ordinances were approved with no comments from the Planning Board members.
— Contact Christine Barcia at cbarcia@gmnews.com